Eternal Moments
by Shy Shay
Summary: A single moment can change a day. A single day can change a life. A single life can change the world. These are the collection of life changing moments leading up to true love, and how they effect the rest of there world. RanmaXNabiki
1. A Drop of Melted Ice

**A/N: This is the first chapter in my new fic, Eternal Moments. It is an experiment on my part, to see how much I can describe single moments. It is to work on my descriptive skills and story skills. Unfortunately, as a side effect, the chapters will be rather short. As with this one. The word count without the Authors Note was 561. But I still hope and ask you to read and review my story. Pretty please?**

Moment one – A Drop of Melted Ice

Ranma was in the process of running. Most likely from Kuno, but it could have been any number of other people. Ryoga, Akane, Shampoo... you name it. His number of erstwhile fiances and rivals were so numerable that it would be impossible to know how many where after his body and or life at any one moment.

One foot was on the ground, steadying his body. The other was in the air, preparing to hurry forward to continue with his break neck pace.

His muscular body and black hair made girls swoon, his clearly perfectly fit body the ideal of any man.

At this moment, however, none of that mattered.

At this moment was what mattered was the scene that he saw through a door that was cracked open. Just a small crack, but it was enough to see through.

Through the barely cracked open door, Ranma could see everything that was going on. His perfectly honed senses assured that. And what he saw through the door shocked him.

He saw Nabiki, the middle sister of his so called fiance's family, staring out of the window. He could see in the distance what looked like five girls 'escorting' in a violent manner a member of the male populace of Furikan high school off of the grounds. He couldn't tell, but judging from their uniforms and the way that Nabiki's head was trained towards them, he assumed that they were her henchwomen.

He saw what looked to be a finance booklet, most likely owned by Nabiki, opened. He couldn't make out everything that was on it, most likely some numbers (which he wasn't any good at anyway), but he could make out two words in bright red, underlined and circled. 'NO PAYMENT'.

So that's what it was. One of 'Furikan's Ice Queen's' 'client's' couldn't pay off their debt.

A rather unusual occurrence, to be sure. Nabiki only lent out money to those that she was sure would be able to pay back, at a rate they would be able to afford. And she was always sure to take something valuable as collateral, just in case.

Well. Something valuable to the borrower, at least. However, there was the occasional case when a person managed to pull one over on the resident money master, and give her something of absolutely no value to her or them. It was rare, but it happened. It was even rarer when a person that clever wasn't able to pay her back.

This lead to only one option: Force. The only way to get through to the idiots out there that money isn't free.

And Ranma, as of this moment, knew that Nabiki didn't like this method.

Many people call Nabiki heartless. They call her cruel. They say that she is ice with human flesh.

But Ranma knew they were wrong. As of this moment.

She acts like she doesn't care. Her face showed that she didn't care.

But Ranma knew that that was just an act. As of this moment.

Because, halfway down from her face to the ground, with the sunlight shinning through it revealing a miniature rainbow, was one thing.

Just one thing.

A single drop of salty water.

A single drop of melted ice.

A single tear.

And then Ranma rushed pass, and the moment was over.


	2. A Bunch of Books

**A/N: I have no excuse for the slow update. No decent one, anyway. For what it's worth, and hopefully a little extra, I humbly apologize. This _will _be finished, but I am not the most reliable of updaters. I'll try to keep the pace up, but I promise nothing.  
Also, while it is true that 'Ranma discovering Nabiki's soft side' is done fairly often, I, frankly, don't believe that Nabiki is secretly a self sacrificing angle. Just like I refuse to accept a humble Ranma. That said, this is _not _one of those stories. Nabiki did cry, yes, but that was for a diffrent reason then 'I don't like being like this'.  
**If I owned Ranma 1/2, do you think this would be a fanfic?**  
**

Moment Two - A Bunch of Books

Nabiki Tendo was walking through her favorite place in Furikan High School; the Furikan High School Library.

She normally visits it to look at economic theory's, physcology, and stock history. True, most of this could be found on the internet, but there is a kind of... peace with books, making them seem more real. Like all the hands of the people that touched that book, flipped the pages, added a fraction of their knowledge too it. The little indents that show what pages where dogged eared, what books are more worn then others despite the age.

But that is not important at this time.

What is important is that she is not the only inhabitant of the library this day, this moment.

Normally the library is empty. Nobody is there except for her and, occasionally, the librarian. In a school which is fascinated by the martial arts freaks that come by, it is rare to find somebody actually in the library. Those that are interested in learning use the computers more then the library.

So, nine times out of ten, she is alone. One time out of ten, the librarian is in there with her. And zero times out of ten, this time, Ranma is with her.

She only saw him for a moment. He was hidden in a corner of the library, away from prying eyes. Really, the bookshelves were arranged in such a way that only somebody in her exact position could see him, and even then, only if they happened to turn their head at just the right angle.

In that little corner Ranma sat, books and scrolls on his table, separated into two different piles. One to his right, another to his left.

A quick scan of the titles included 'Idiots Guide to Running a Dojo', 'Obscure and Totally Useless Martial Arts Techniques', 'Practicing Martial Arts in the 20th Century', and 'The Nature of the Ki Manipulation'.

Nabiki couldn't see much, but she did see Ranma, hunched over an old, big book, face concentrated in a way normally reserved for martial arts.

Was he studying?

He was awful at school.

Maybe... he just didn't think it was important?

...Just like her?

And then Nabiki finished her step, and the moment was over.


	3. A Spark of Life

**A/N: So, here's the next chapter. I'm gonna do my best to update every couple of days or so, to keep things going. With any luck this story, with its riduculously short chapters, will eventually be finished. In my life time. Hopefully. Anyway, here it is!  
**If I owned Ranma 1/2, do you think this would be a fanfic?**  
**

Moment Three – A Spark of Life

Ranma was alive. He was always living, but it was only when he was practicing his Art that he felt truly alive. And currently, he was fighting Ryoga.

He could feel the current of the fight, the flow of conflict, the chi that saturated the air... everything. It put his hair on end, his senses were strained further then they ever were before, and his mind was on fire.

In this moment, Ryoga was going to either charge, use a ki blast, toss his umbrella, leap forward, jump back, stand his ground, or mock. Each of these actions had five to twenty possible modifiers.

Ranma could envision five counters for every one of Ryoga's possible moves. And two modifiers for each.

Not accounting Amazon Wu Shu.

He could see, out of the corner of his eye, all the students of the school surrounding the crater that the two martial artists had formed. On his side were... of course. The Fiance' brigade, minus Akane. They were fighting amongst themselves as well. The rest of the school was on Ryoga's side, avoiding the fight on the other side.

Let's see... there were his friends, Akane, Akane's friends, and there was... was that Nabiki?

She seemed... different. It was subtle, but now, when every fiber of Ranma's being was focused on learning and plotting, he noticed it.

Her eyes were slightly wider then before, and they had a bit of a sparkle to them. Her hair was standing slightly on end and her movements were slightly quicker then before. He could practically see her calculating faster then normal.

She seemed... Alive.

Ah, where was he? Right, the fight.

Ryoga was either going charge, use a ki blast, toss his umbrella, leap forward, jump back, stand his ground, mock or fake to the left. Each of these actions had ten to thirty possible modifiers.

Ranma could envision six counters for every one of Ryoga's possible moves. And four modifiers for each.

Not accounting Amazon Wu Shu.

Or any of wacky themed martial arts styles he learned in Nerima.

Ryoga tossed his umbrella, and the moment ended.


End file.
